Archive for the ‘Hebrew (heb)’ Category

The Māori of New Zealand sparked the language revitalization movement around the world when they implemented a community-based education program to teach children to speak te reo or “the language” as Māori (mri) is often called.

According to “Fight to save national taonga,” however, despite nearly three decades and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, the language has not taken full root. While some can speak the language and even Pākehā (non-Māori New Zealanders) have adopted words for everyday use, the language has failed to rise to a level of common use.

The author writes, “What Maori lacks, and what most minority languages lack, is this life-sustaining linguistic community, the sea of language in which speakers can happily swim at all times.”

The author notes that there is a similar situation in Wales, and it was only the need for a unifying language by Jews coming from many different countries the resulted in the success of Hebrew revitalization.

The opinion article was written in response to a Māori/English bilingual report titled “Te Reo Mauriora” issued by Te Paepae Motuhake to Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Māori Development).

The recommendations of the report include:

Working toward a goal of 80% of Māori speaking Māori in the home by 2050